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Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Strawberry & Punsch Semifreddo

Summer means ice cream. And lots of it. However, not everyone happens to be blessed with an ice cream machine, although I think it should be a staple i any kitchen. Mine is at least 25 years old – really! – and still working just as well as it always have. But since you maybe don’t have one, let’s make some ice cream without a machine.

Or, let’s make a semifreddo. In Italian, it means half-frozen, and although I prefer it more “freddo”, you should take it out of the freezer a while before serving, or it’ll be too hard and icy. It can be flavored with absolutely anything, but, being summer and all, I thought we’d use strawberries. And, for a Swedish touch, some Punsch. Punsch is a Swedish liqueur, sweet and not very strong. It’s flavored with Arrak, and there’s a pretty good article about it on Wikipedia. As it happens, it goes extremely well with strawberries. A good alternative would be Amaretto di Saronno, a lovely almond liqueur.

Clean the strawberries. Mash half of them with a blender or a food processor, and thinly slice the other half. Mix both with the punsch.

Whisk egg yolks and sugar until very pale and fluffy. (A stand mixer sure helps, but handheld beaters work as well.) Whisk the cream into soft peaks, and fold into the eggs along with the yogurt. Finally, add the strawberries.

Freeze, preferrably in a tin with removable sides – mine is made of silicone and very convenient. Freeze overnight, and let it thaw for a short while before eating.

(Recipe has previously been posted on sweden.se while I was blogging for them.)